Application of game theory models to decisions on farm practices and resource use

The use of alternative decision models for farmer decision-making under uncertainty is demonstrated in this study. Particular emphasis is given to game theoretic models. These models have previously had little empirical application to farmer decision problems. This study has shown, however, that the models suggest plans which farmers in various problem settings may wish to follow. Research and extension personnel may want to use the models to derive farmer recommendations. Farmers must make decisions in their given, uncertain environment. How are these decisions to be made so that the plans resulting will, as nearly as possible, have the outcomes desired by the farmer? This question expresses the problem this study was designed to investigate. Farmers can follow any of several models specifying how to plan under uncertainty. They may apply the models to their own problems directly or follow recommendations based on the models. Research and extension personnel influence choice of decision models through data and recommendations. Research workers must use some choice mechanism to derive recommendations. Published data may influence choice of decision models, by being suitable for use in only one or a few models. Farmers\u27 abilities to plan rationally may be increased by providing a variety of recommendations based on different decision models giving plans with outcomes desired by farmers. Abilities also may be increased by providing data applicable to several decision models

Nonprofit governance: Improving performance in troubled economic times

Nonprofit management is currently pressured to perform effectively in a weak economy. Yet, nonprofit governance continues to suffer from unclear conceptions of the division of labor between board of directors and executive directors. This online survey of 114 executive directors aims to provide clarification and recommendations for social administration

Adverse clinical sequelae after skin branding: a case series

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Health Education and Community Empowerment: Conceptualizing and Measuring Perceptions of Individual, Organizational and Community Control

Also PCMA Working Paper #38.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/51259/1/493.pd

Structural changes in commercial agriculture

The basic idea of the conference on Structural Changes in Commercial Agriculture was planted in the spring of 1964 by Earl 0. Heady. He outlined for the North Central Farm Management Research Committee his concern about the kind and amount of response to both current and prospective structural changes in the commercial farm firm. Many changes represent adjustments to technological and other innovations originating in marketing, research, and educational agencies serving farmers.https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/card_reports/1025/thumbnail.jp

Structural Organization of DNA in Chlorella Viruses

Chlorella viruses have icosahedral capsids with an internal membrane enclosing their large dsDNA genomes and associated proteins. Their genomes are packaged in the particles with a predicted DNA density of ca. 0.2 bp nm−3. Occasionally infection of an algal cell by an individual particle fails and the viral DNA is dynamically ejected from the capsid. This shows that the release of the DNA generates a force, which can aid in the transfer of the genome into the host in a successful infection. Imaging of ejected viral DNA indicates that it is intimately associated with proteins in a periodic fashion. The bulk of the protein particles detected by atomic force microscopy have a size of ∼60 kDa and two proteins (A278L and A282L) of about this size are among 6 basic putative DNA binding proteins found in a proteomic analysis of DNA binding proteins packaged in the virion. A combination of fluorescence images of ejected DNA and a bioinformatics analysis of the DNA reveal periodic patterns in the viral DNA. The periodic distribution of GC rich regions in the genome provides potential binding sites for basic proteins. This DNA/protein aggregation could be responsible for the periodic concentration of fluorescently labeled DNA observed in ejected viral DNA. Collectively the data indicate that the large chlorella viruses have a DNA packaging strategy that differs from bacteriophages; it involves proteins and share similarities to that of chromatin structure in eukaryotes